The 'Wonder Woman' director says Cameron doesn't understand the heroine because 'he is not a woman.'
Don’t mess with Wonder Woman!
Patty Jenkins fired back at James Cameron on Thursday, after the director made some disparaging comments stating that the superhero film was "a step backwards" for feminism.
"James Cameron's inability to understand what Wonder Woman is, or stands for, to woman all over the world is unsurprising as, though he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman," Jenkins began her statement posted to Twitter on Thursday night. "Strong women are great. His praise of my film Monster, and our portrayal of a strong yet damaged woman was appreciated. But if women have to always be hard, tough and troubled to be strong, and we aren’t free to be multidimensional or celebrate an icon of women everywhere because she is attractive and loving, then we haven't come very far have we."
The Wonder Woman director added that she believes that women "can and should be everything just like male lead characters should be" and that there is "no right and wrong kind of powerful woman."
In a recent interview with The Guardian, the Avatar director expressed that the Gal Gadot-starring film is "male Hollywood doing the same old thing," adding that he feels that Wonder Woman is "an objectified icon."
“I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards,” he said, comparing the heroine to his own films' female characters like Terminator's Sarah Connor and Alien's Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver.
“Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon,” he said. “She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, [the benefit of characters like Sarah] is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!”
Jenkins is currently in negotiations to direct the Wonder Woman sequel, due out Dec. 13, 2019. The deal, if completed, could make her the highest-paid female director in Hollywood.
Since the release of the DC Comics and Warner Bros. film in June, the blockbuster has been breaking records. And, with director Jenkins at the helm, it is now the highest grossing live-action film ever directed by a woman.
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